Dell goes AMD -- in servers at least

It's been a long time coming, but Dell finally managed to cram an AMD chip into a system of theirs, ending years of Intel monogamy (other than their recently acquired Alienware lines). They're starting off slow, with a just a few Opteron Dual-Core processors in high end servers, but it could be a sign of things to come. Dell CEO Kevin Rollins sure played things down, mentioning "it's a fairly small category in terms of units," and that "we will still be launching this year a broad line of Intel products." But with recent AMD successes, especially in the desktop market, it's been long rumored that Dell is going to give up their AMD boycott. We'll keep our eyes peeled.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Cyotik @ May 18th 2006 9:13PM]

Its about time. You've got to wonder what kind of deal Intel has with Dell to keep them from using AMD chips.

[Bib Cranton @ May 18th 2006 9:16PM]

Good for Dell, my processor loyalty is 0%.

Whatever is the cheapest and gets the job done is what i am buying. The only reason I have stuck to intel is because of the cool names they give their processors. AMD is so unimaginative!

It as if I care who makes the HD in the unit...

[AndrewNeo @ May 18th 2006 9:55PM]

Way to put a picture of a server with the Intel logo visible.

[Gerard @ May 18th 2006 10:20PM]

Cool names? Intel? You mean Pentium, Pentium 2, Pentium iii and Pentium 4? Cool names? And you call AMD unimaginative. Athlon, Opteron, Sempron and Turion are a bit more exciting than numerical systems, surely.

The way I see it, AMDs offer stability and generally 'better' CPUs, and Intel offer faster nippy little devices but (a bit) poorer in their quality and efficiency.

[Dell Sucks @ May 18th 2006 10:36PM]

Thats what I said.
DELL SUCKS!

[Herman @ May 18th 2006 11:20PM]

5: Cool names? AMD? You mean Athlon, Athlon XP, Athlon MP, Athlon 64, Athlon X2, and Athlon FX? And you call Intel unimaginative? Pentium, Xeon, Celeron, Centrino, Core Solo/Duo, Itanium, and XScale are a bit more exciting than abbreviations and numbers. Surely.

Bias much?

[bobby @ May 19th 2006 12:11AM]

Way to go Dell. Now let's watch the prices decrease and speed and performance go up !

Still waiting for D-day when Dell finally makes the announcement of AMD in their desktop systems.

[JD @ May 19th 2006 12:22AM]

I wonder if Sun is starting to heat up the competition (http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/ultra20/index.jsp).

AMD Opteron goodness for about $1000 with your choice of Solaris, Linux, or Windows. Yes, WINDOWS.

[NONE @ May 19th 2006 12:31AM]

It took declining marketshare for Dell to make the switch. Judging from the comments that this is a "fairly small category in terms of units" DELL is less than enthusiastic about the partnership. I bet he had a pained look on his face when answering questions.

Intel better pick it up. They have allowed AMD to get their foot in the door. Dell is the golden goose for CPU manufacturers.

It sounds to me like DELL is hedging it's bets in the event that Conroe doesn't pan out. If Conroe supplies are limited or the CPU doesn't perform as advertised, Dell needs competitive AMD machines.

If Conroe fails for Intel, they're going to be crying harder than a Sony exec watching the Wii line at the E3!!!

[Revrant @ May 19th 2006 1:32AM]

Good for AMD, I hope they get in there, they certainly deserve it more than Intel. Especially considering the supposed equal performance AMD vs Intel benchmarking since the 64 bit launch always landed Intel in the toilet aside from things involving specific matrices.

I'll never take Dell's gaming machine seriously while it keeps to Intel CPUs. (Hey, Dell, your Gaming market is similarly small...Hint Hint?) Though I don't want Intel to fail outright with this new product line, thus giving AMD the chance to become the new dominating presence, it'd be good to see them stumble, leveling out the playing field for a more even nVidia vs ATI kind of fight.(Though, more even still isn't as even as it should be)

[Mohsin @ May 19th 2006 1:55AM]

Yes a very strategic move by dell ... this will eventually make intel to cut off the prices since we will all be having dual processor dual core 64 bit chip server at a very lower cost than intel ... Smart move but its a little late one ... cuz Sun has already launched its complete line of Opeteron server based machines and they all can run Solaris,Linux(ALL), Window Server ... Can dell match that?? I doubt

[Jeffrey M Foster @ May 19th 2006 2:17AM]

woah... looks like an ugly wannabe G5 server. :P

[Merkur @ May 19th 2006 3:23AM]

AMD GO TO DELL !!!

The only reason i never bought a DELL is because they only use Intel crap...

[jonn @ May 19th 2006 3:38AM]

I like dell computers and laptops. I have one dell pc. I think dell is the best sellers of laptops.

http://cheap-computers-review.blogspot.com/2006/05/hp-pavilion-media-center-a1410n-pc-hp.html

[Mack Swift @ May 19th 2006 8:05AM]

Although I do agree that temperatures have indeed turned a bit frosty in hell, I'm still not quite sure what this mean for Dell and it's customer base overall.

More than likely Dell did this right before the AM2 launch to take advantage of Opteron and DDR2 combination on their server platform; as well as not have to support DDR1 and DDR2 if they had gone with AMD earlier. Plus, on the server side, quad core K8L CPUs are showing oodles of promise on the server side.

However, this quote from ZDNet worries me -
"Dell will accelerate plans for $3 billion in cost cuts and will spend $100 million on improving its customer service"

How much more can Dell outsource?? If that's what $3 billion in cost cuts entangle, Dell's still on that slippery slope. And compared to the cost slashing, only $100 million on customer service imporvements?? Dell's customer service has been abysmal for the past 5 years; these guys were the gold standard in support through the 90s, now I cry if I have to call them.

But props are definetly owed to AMD. They stuck to their guns and clearly demostrated that they can design, build, and support an awesome product. It took time, but they got that big Dell OEM contract they wanted and needed. Congrats!

[Dad @ May 19th 2006 8:46AM]

AMD-ewwwww. R.I.P. Dell 2006

[bigmiz @ May 19th 2006 9:06AM]

I like AMD chips. My athlon 64 2800 with a gig of ram is a lot smoother than my latitude d820 duo with 2gigs of ram. I've always felt that amd chips were better - which major pc makers offer amd chips anyway?

[DJ @ May 19th 2006 9:14AM]

For years, I could never figure out why Dell put up with that Celeron sh*t for their entry level machines while eveyone else was selling much higher performance AMD machines for less. If nothing else, go AMD at the entry point, trash Celeron (OK, I realize that's a redundant phrase), use Intel in your bread & butter systems and AMD in gaming.

[Gear6 @ May 19th 2006 10:07AM]

I might finally buy a Dell if they make the AMD chips available in their notebook lineup!

[Joshua Waller @ May 19th 2006 11:20AM]

I wonder whether the AMD vs Intel lawsuit had anything to do with this? Surely Dell being Intel only for so long is proof enough that they were locked into Intel...?

[Tim @ May 19th 2006 6:41PM]

It's about stinkin' time... maybe a bit too late. DELL needs to do something drastic or else they'll become another Packard Bell.

I wonder if the XPS line will support AMD? We'll see.

[maury @ May 19th 2006 11:46PM]

It's a little late for this. By the time an AMD server rolls off the line, Intel will pretty much be kicking AMD's performance butt all over the place for at least the next 5 quarters or so, and after that we'll see if AMD or Intel can execute from there.

The AMD vs Intel hatred on here is a little silly, so some of these comments are hard to take seriously.

I'm sure Dell just did this for two reasons: 1) They have an emergency backup relationship in case Intel really falls (or if the market demands Intel post Woodcrest) and 2) The real reason - to placate Wall Street, which should hold things over until Woodcrest is shipping in volume (and followed up by it's successors).

[just me @ Jun 20th 2006 10:13AM]

well i must agree that its really late for Dell to use AMD chips but what's more important that i can't stop wondering is how's a Dell desktop with AMD chips? if this will be a success, i guess this could help Dell to get back on the track for the next quarter...agree?